Buena Park Conference: 1973
Table of Contents
Rephidim
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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People saying that God brings before us much truth in his precious word and the the the doctrines of the Christianity are so beautifully brought before us and developed in the New Testament. But in the Old Testament God gives us pictures that are illustrations, and perhaps some of us find it more simple to understand the truth from an illustration. And so in looking at this passage tonight here I believe we have God's provision for the children of Israel.
Through what pictures the priesthood and the advocacy of Christ in our pathway here through this world.
We know the children of Israel were once slaves in the land of Egypt. There were slaves under Pharaoh. But God found a way of deliverance for those people, and he brought them out from under that awful slavery. And we remember how the lamb was slain and the blood was sprinkled. And God said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. What a wonderful thing that they were delivered from that awful judgment that fell upon the land of Egypt, because the blood was.
Sprinkled on the Lindeland, the two side posts of their home. God didn't speak about their feelings. He didn't even mention the amount of their faith. He just simply said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And our faith may be weak, but oh how wonderful it is when we have taken shelter under the precious blood of Christ. There might be two homes in Egypt. Perhaps one was very, very happy on that night and perhaps another.
Doubt. But as long as the blood was sprinkled, the home was safe. Isn't that lovely? And there might be a Christian here tonight and just say, while I have doubts, can I be secure? God says not when I see your feelings, but when I see the blood. The enemy often tries to attack the children of God with doubts, but it doesn't change the value of the blood. And God looks upon the blood. And if you tonight are trusting in the precious blood of Christ for salvation.
Why God sees you as sheltered from the judgment.
But he not only sheltered them from the judgment, he took them out of that position altogether and brought them through the Red Sea and out into the wilderness. And not only are we sheltered from judgment, but oh, how wonderful. We're no longer looked at as being under Satan's power. It tells us in Colossians, One who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear son. And so you've not only been sheltered from judgment, but I have a wonderful message for every believer.
Here, tonight, now, God sees you in Christ. And when it speaks about justification in the book of Romans, it's justification of life. And that is to be before God in a new life and a new standing. And so you are in Christ before God, so perfectly accepted, and that God looks upon his blessed Son and sees you.
Accepted in him. Oh, what a place.
We have been brought into, so I say, the children of Israel were not only sheltered from the judgment, but when they passed through the Red Sea, they were brought into a new position.
But in those years in the wilderness on their way to the promised land, there were two great lessons for them to learn, lessons that were all very slow in learning. And the first one is the all sufficiency of the one who had brought them out and had promised to bring them in. He was sufficient for every circumstance that arose in all those 40 years of wilderness travel. There was no situation that he was unable to meet.
But the second.
And it's a very humbling thing. It tells us in Deuteronomy to humbly and to prove thee, and to show thee what was in my heart. And after we are saved, our security depends only upon Christ. Our assurance just is because we trust in his precious words. But you know, we have to learn those two lessons. And we're slow learners and we meet situations and we look at.
Situation and think it's almost greater than the Lord can bring us through, but he is above every situation. And then we look at ourselves and what do we discover? Will you say, I think I can handle quite a few situations. Oh, those are the ones where we break down. Those are the ones where most likely we'll prove our absolute insufficiency because it says when I am weak as an am I strong? That is when we recognize our own helplessness.
That then we're cast upon an arm of strength.
And that that one who is the arm of strength is the Lord himself. It says, trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. And so this is the thing that we have to learn in the wilderness. And oh, it's a very humbling thing for us that we learn ourselves. That's why the manna was provided for the wilderness, because the Lord Jesus has been through the past before.
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He's the one. He's the true bread that came down from heaven.
And he has been through the past, and having been through the past, he's now gone up on high, as we'll see in this chapter. And he's a merciful and faithful high priest. And so there isn't anything that we have to meet that he hasn't already met in a park in his blessed pathway through this world. And so this chapter brings us to an experience where the children of Israel learned themselves and also learned that the Lord had made and was making full provisions.
For them all along the way, notice how it begins. It says that they came to this place called Rephidim. And it says it was according to the commandment of the Lord that they came to this place and there was no water for the people to drink. Now you might come to a situation in your life where everything seems to go wrong, refreshment seems to fail. You feel discouraged and cast down, and perhaps you say, well.
Should I make the mistake that I got into this situation? But the children of Israel hadn't made any mistake in getting into this position. The Lord brought them there. It says it was according to the commandment of the Lord that they came to Rephidim. And does the Lord sometimes bring us into a place where we feel that everything that we might lean on has failed when water or refreshment for us seems to have gone?
Do we realize that the Lord might bring us to that?
Place. Why did he bring Israel to this place? All he wanted them to realize that all their resources in the wilderness journey were in him. All that they needed must come from him. They had no resources for themselves. Hadn't they already found this out? They couldn't have caused the waters to roll back to get through that Red Sea.
When they came to that place where the waters were bitter, they couldn't make the water sweet, but when the tree was cast in, the waters were made sweet. And so there are situations that come in our lives, as I say. Now the Lord brings us to these things in order that we might learn to lean upon Him. And so I think it's very important to see that this place repeat them. They came there not through some mistake in their travels.
But according.
To the commandment of the Lord and if there should be someone who has come to that place and it's a very interesting thing that sometimes you have a little time you'll find that a a good many maps at least show the word refitam on the on the map and it has a question mark after it That to me is very interesting Why is it there are many other places and there's no question mark she won't answer them, but this particular place is a question mark after it. Well, perhaps the reason for.
Is this they don't just exactly know where this spot was. And it doesn't come the same in every person's life. It may come in a different spot in your life than it comes in mind. It may come in one place in your life, and it might come perhaps many years later in another person's life. But we all have to come to Raphidom. We all have to sometime or other, come to the end of our resources and find out a little bit at least of what is in our hearts. And this was what?
And lies to the children of Israel. And that's what it is for us in a spiritual sense where we come to the place where there's no water to drink. Well, what did they do when they came to this place? Well, they were perfectly natural. They were just like ourselves. They turned to Moses and began to chide with him and said, give us water that we may drink. Isn't this always the way when we get into a spot where resources have.
Failed. We like to find somebody to blame. We like to single out somebody and we say, well, why can't that person help us out in this difficulty? He's the one that's made this problem for us. And so they turn and they started to blame Moses and they said they were almost ready to soon Moses and they placed the blame on him. Perhaps this made them, as it sometimes makes us feel a little better inside that it wasn't our fault.
But isn't it sad that we should try to find somebody that we can blame, or somebody that can help us out of the difficulty? As they said, Moses, give us water, give us water. And so when we come to this place, we turn often, and usually first to an arm of flesh, and we say, as it were, can't you help us out of this difficulty? Can't you undertake for us? And so Moses said.
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Why charge you with me? Wherefore do you tempt the Lord? Moses realized that this was by the commandment of the Lord that they're in this place and there are situations arise in our lives, as I say, whenever we are in the flesh fails. Perhaps mother fails, father fails, our best friend lets us down and we blame them. But the Lord is the one who has allowed it. Now when we don't see his hand in.
Circumstance we are actually doing what they did. We are tempting the Lord. We are really placing the blame upon him. We're just noticing last night in first Peter chapter 5 that it tells us casting all your care upon him or he cares for you and the next verse says be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the devil is a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour.
And I believe it means just this, that when we don't cast our cares upon the Lord, we leave ourselves open to Satan, and he is very likely to get us discouraged. If we had cherished the care upon the Lord, then we would have found that He was able to help us. But if we don't cast it upon Him, then the enemy comes in, we get discouraged, the enemy gets the victory, the shield of faith gets down, and those fiery darts come in.
And so here we find that they charted with Moses, and he said, Why? Wherefore do you tempt the Lord?
And the people first stood there for water. They still didn't turn to the Lord at this point. They still thirsted and continued, and they murmured against Moses. And now we see something very sad here. They said, Wherefore is this, that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? And there's no more dangerous time in our Christian life than when we get discouraged here, we find.
Now they start to talk about Egypt. Yes, they were in danger at this point of going back into Egypt because they were so discouraged. And, you know, when we get into some situation where resources seem to fail and where we think we can blame someone else, now the enemy then I say, comes in and he's very likely to say, well, it's better in Egypt. You might as well try the world. You need more of the world.
Pleasure because Christ hasn't really satisfied your heart, but He's willing to. He's able to satisfy our hearts, but He must.
Teach us what the flesh is. He must let us learn that the flesh profiteth nothing. Someone said to Mr. Darby one time, Mr. Darby, you have a good knowledge of the Word of God. Would you help me so that I would know how to study the Word? I'd like to get some knowledge of the Scripture. And his reply was, study well for words. The flesh prophetess, nothing.
Yes, we must learn what the flesh is.
We must see how that it is of no avail and that it is that when we come to this point, the enemy whispers in our ears. Why? You better go back to the world. You better return to its pleasures.
You know, it's lovely to see that they never did get back into Egypt, although they in heart sometimes turned back. God saw to it that they never went back to Egypt, and one of his own is never going to return again to the position of condemnation. Oh, this is lovely. We may be poor failing believers, and many of us are at best poor failing things, unprofitable servants, but thank God, we're never going to return to the position of judgment again.
The Lord, having saved his own, has saved us.
Eternity. But He does have to let us learn these lessons, and He has to let us see what is in our hearts.
And notice how they speak of it. Kill us.
And then our children and I sometimes heard Christians say, well, I think I could take it, but my children can't. My children can't. This is exactly the way they felt. They said, you're going to kill us and our children.
Oh, how wonderful it is that the Lord is sufficient and one is enjoyed in this connection in 3rd John where there's this order in the assembly, as there was, there was a man named Ultra Fees who was exalting himself and he was acting.
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With a sort of a high hand. And what does the apostle John do? He writes a special letter to encourage Gaius to go on with his family and live for the Lord. And this is a very nice word for us all because sometimes when these things come in among the people of God, notice we first get discouraged ourselves, but then our children and then our cattle. This was their business. They said, well we have to have a living and so.
They were going to return in heart to Egypt because of this discouragement. And they murmured, They charted with Moses. But what did Moses do? It says. And Moses cried unto the Lord. Moses knew to whom to turn. And may I just say a little word to those who seek to be leaders among the people of God. These situations do arise from time to time.
And sometimes it is our privilege.
To be a help in such times. And what did Moses do? You know, he could have been very, very bitter at this time. He tells us here, what shall I do unto this people, lady almost ready to stone me. He could have said, I, I give up. They don't appreciate what I've done for them. They don't think that I'm any use here. And I might as well just give up because there's nothing more for me to do.
And and so in turning to the Lord, he laid his whole case.
Before the Lord, and to know if there's anyone here who is thought to be a help among the people of God and perhaps been blamed for something, turn to the Lord, turn to him, tell him all about it. He knows the whole situation. He knows everything that has been said and done. He knows our hearts and our desires. And so here Moses just poured out his whole case before the people. He said, what shall I do unto this people?
And perhaps he expected the Lord.
To tell him to bring judgment upon them. At this point I don't know. But what did the Lord say, Isn't this lovely? And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people. Isn't this a touching reply from the heart of the Lord? In other words, he said, Moses, don't give up. Go on before the people. And there I say to each one here.
Praying those two words in your mind when difficulties come, those two little words.
Go on, go on and not just go on by yourself. You say, well I would go on, but I retire from being any help. No, the Lord said go on before the people. Yes, those very people who had spoken of soon him, those people who had chided with him, those people who hadn't appreciated what He had done for them. The Lord still said go on before the people. And more than this he said.
And take with thee of the elders of Israel. Yes, he said, Take with thee of the elders of Israel. That is, don't separate from them, but be held to them, and take them with you. But now here is the whole secret. And I rod, wherewith thou smoothest the river, take in thine hand and go. What is the ground on which God can bless his people? Does He bless his present? Because.
Faithful Christian because we're such fine believers. Oh no. The ground on which he blesses us is that the rod was lifted up upon Christ in our place. That's the ground on which he blesses us. God brought the people out of Egypt not because they were any better than the Israel, than the Egyptians. They weren't all better. The Scripture tells us that they were going along with the Egyptians and worshiping their God.
But what was it that laid the righteous basis whereby?
Why, God could bring them out. They were sheltered by the blood. And so when they came to the Red Sea, the rod was lifted up. And instead of coming down upon the people in their discouragement, even at that point, it came down upon the water and opened the way for them. And we love to sing that little hymn, that Jehovah lifted up his rod. O Christ, it fell on thee. Now thou was forsaken of thy God.
In no distance now for me.
Yes, the precious Savior bore the wrath of God so that we might be blessed. And we must always remember, if we ever try to be a help to the people of God, that God's ground for blessing his people is redemption. It's the cross. It's what Christ has done. There's no underground on which he can bless them, because surely we're no better than Israel in ourselves.
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And so it was to take the elders and that rod that had opened the way through the.
See that rod that had come down, so that the people might go through the Red Sea on dry ground? And then he was told to go in the sixth verse. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb. I like that little expression. I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb.
Now that he is, he was to take with him the elders of the people. He was to go on before the people. A body was to have his eye upon the Lord. The Lord said, I'll stand before you as though he were saying, don't look at the people, Moses. You might easily get discouraged if you thought about them and what they've said, but look at me. Just realize my heart toward them.
And we know how in a later occasion in a similar place, Moses did become discouraged, and he called the people rebels, and he brought down his rod upon the rock twice. And it tells us that God brought out the water. But Moses had failed to sanctify the Lord in the midst of his people. Now that is.
Moses On a later occasion it was discouraged because of the mermanings and.
Flames of the people, and for one.
For one, he said he reveled, but God never wants us to lose our patience with his people. I've often thought of that. He just lost his patience once.
And God said, Moses, you didn't represent me the right way because I love the people and I want to bless them. And when you misrepresented me, why I can't use you to bring them into the promised land. That's a serious thing, to represent Christ, to seek to be as we had the other night epistles of Christ, to represent him in this world, whether individually or collectively.
But here at this time, Moses listed up the.
God, I might say that on me this occasion it was right that he should smite the rock, but on the next occasion he was told to speak to the rock. Now I just call attention to this because the rock only had to be smitten once.
And if you have any question about who it was, it tells us in First Corinthians 5. And that rock was Christ, and that rock was Christ. He was only sentenced once. That is, the judgment that he bore on Calvary's cross has been fully exhausted. He'll never have to be smitten again.
One dear Christian who had accepted the Lord as their Savior had great joy, but after a little while she began to wonder, began to have some doubts, and she said to a Christian man who had been preaching in that particular place, She said, I know all my sins were put away when I was saved, but I have sinned since I was saved. And what about those sins?
Well, he said.
I'd like to ask you a question. How many of your sins were future when the Lord Jesus died?
Well, she said, I guess they were all future because I wasn't even born. Well, he said, I'd like to ask you a second question then. Is the Lord Jesus going to die for sin again?
No, she said. I don't think so. And he isn't. The Bible says in that he died, he died under sin once, but in that he liveth, He liveth unto God. Well, he said, if the Lord Jesus didn't settle a question of your sins at Calvary, they'll never be settled.
Oh, thank God he did, and that's why the rock only had to be smitten one. So the next time they came to the rock, the Lord said speak to the rock, speak to it. And tonight we can speak to the rock. The judgment has been born. It's exhausted. And we can speak to the one who did the work, as we'll see in the later part of the chapter, as the one who is our great high priest and our advocate to carry us through the wilderness.
But the work necessary to fit us for eternal glory.
Has already been accomplished. So it tells us here, that the Lord would stand before him upon the rock. And thou shalt smite to the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. Isn't it most beautiful? The Lord came in and asked it all their murmuring. But I might just mention here in passing.
That up to the time the law was given, which is brought before us in the 19.
19th and 20th chapters why God met every every difficulty that arose, every murmuring that arose in grace afterwards when they put themselves under law, then God had to deal with them in discipline about previous to the giving of the law. Why he met the situations in grace and so this is our position in spite of all our failures and shortcomings. He's the gone of all grace he's accomplished redemption he's.
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Up on high, Have a work of redemption is now finished and he's seated there.
And so it tells us He called the name of the place Massa and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not? That is, they doubted His goodness and his care, and we should never doubt him. We may and do learn much about ourselves, but oh, how blessed his promise. I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Now the children of Israel had no sooner had a drink of this refreshing water that came from the rock, and it tells us that there was an enemy that came out against them. And I just like you to turn with me to John Chapter 7, because I believe there's a little connection here that we could learn something from.
John, Chapter 7.
And verse 37.
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man first let him come unto me and drink, he that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
I call it attention.
To this here, because I believe the water here represents the Holy Spirit of God. And it tells us here that when the Lord spoke in the 7th of John, the Holy Spirit was not yet given. But on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of God came down. He came to earth as a divine person, and he came to indwell the bodies of believers and everyone in this room tonight who is saved, who is sheltered by the blood of Jesus.
And fitted for His glory.
Present how blessed we're also indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God. But as soon as the Spirit of God comes to indwell the believer, then there's a conflict. And what is the conflict? Well, it tells us in Galatians chapter 5, the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would.
And this may.
Be a help to some who are young here tonight to realize that when we get the joy of salvation, when we drink, as it were, of those refreshing streams that come from the smitten rock, we know that our sins are gone. We know that the Lord Jesus is up on high and the Spirit has come down to shed abroad the love of God in our hearts. What happens?
All we seem to discover as we never had before, what the flesh is within us. We find that inside of us there is that miserable, ugly old thing now that we received by our natural birth, and it hasn't been improved since. We're saved.
The Bible says.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. It says again that the old man is corrupt according to the deceitful lust. The old nature doesn't improve no matter how long we save. And the more we desire to please the Lord, the more we're going to discover what the flesh really is within us. And so here in this John Chapter 7, the Lord speaks of the coming of the Holy Spirit.
And that he would be within us, a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
He would be within us now. That new power out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And so as soon as you desire to please the Lord and to live for Him, then you make a very painful discovery. You find that there's something inside that doesn't want you to please the Lord, that seeks to hinder you at every turn.
And that's what we have here.
As soon as they had had these, this refreshing drink as an amalek came out to fight against them. And oh, how powerful was this foe. And Satan knows just how to tempt us through that fallen nature that's within. And I think I hear some young Christian here tonight saying, well, I do want to please the Lord, but it seems the more I want to please him, the stronger.
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That old nature seems to be within me.
And it just seems to give me problems every time. I want to please the Lord. Well, this is just exactly what happened. Can't you imagine the children of Israel at this point being so happy when they drank of those waters that came from the smitten rock, and then look up and see this great enemy coming against them? And perhaps you feel that way too. Well, did God lead his people at this point without a resort?
We know that Christendom is full, full of all kinds of ideas and ways of how to get deliverance from the flesh. There are some people who say, well, if you give way, they might be lost again. There are other people who tell you.
That you can climb up to a kind of a higher spiritual plane and that if you can climb up to this spiritual plane now, then you won't be tempted by the flesh. Then there are others that say that if we pray and wait.
Long enough, the old nature will be burned out. It's because every Christian comes to this point and instead of following the directions that God has given, we find the Christendom full of all kinds of human ideas as to how to meet the difficulty that arises in the Christian life when the Spirit of God takes his residence in the body of the believer. Now he believes. Typically we have some beautiful things brought before us in the end of this chapter, which.
Show us the provision that God has made. Let me say first of all now that in the death of Christ, not only our sins put away, but God sees that old nature as already dead, and he tells us to reckon ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
But I believe there are three things that are very lovely that are brought out here. And first of all we find in the ninth verse. And Moses said unto Joshua chooses out man, and go out fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.
Now, first of all, we find here that in the plane below where Amalek had attacked them, now they had a leader.
We'll speak in a moment about Moses going up to the top of the hill. But first of all, in this battle on the plains, why there was a leader for the people of God, and that leader was Joshua. I might say that the word Joshua is the very same word as it's translated Jesus in the New Testament. It means Jehovah.
Savior. And it tells us in Hebrews 2 That the Lord Jesus is the captain of our salvation.
Bringing many sons home to glory. And so in our pathway here, we not only have Christ up on high, how about we have Christ in the power of the Spirit leading us in our conflict here now. That is, He is the one who is able to guide us and direct us, and we need to look to Him.
For guidance in every step of our pathway. In other words, we often put ourselves in positions of temptation. If we followed the leader, we wouldn't be there at all.
It says, In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path. It says in the 10th chapter of John, he putteth forth his own sheep and goeth before them, and the sheep follow him. So we have a leader. And in the well known Lord's Prayer he taught the disciples lead us not into temptation. And so I'd like to say first of all, in Speaking of this.
How that in the decisions of our.
Life we ought to ask the Lord to guide us because I say again very often through disobedience to the word of God we get in possessions where temptation is exceedingly strong and maybe it's not his will that we should have ever been in that position. If we had asked him to guide us he wouldn't have put us in that position but in our self will we get there and then we turn to the Lord and we ask him to deliver us but.
Shouldn't have been there. So the very first thing was that there was a leader in Joshua who led them in the conflict. And Christ, I say again, is the captain of our salvation.
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I can't help but use an illustration that I've often used in connection with this. There was a man over in Scotland many years ago and he wanted to hire a coachman and.
He lived in a very place, up in a rocky spot, and the road going up to where he lived was a very narrow road and it sort of boarded A precipice and it was rather dangerous to bring his horses down this road because it was so narrow and so.
When the different applicants came for the job, he asked each one of them this question. He said now you can see that this is a very dangerous Rd. that goes up to my home. And he said I must have an experienced coachman, I must have one who can handle the horse as well. He said how close do you think you could go to the edge there and hold the horses steady? And different ones had different ideas of how much experience they had had, how well they could handle the horses.
But after interviewing several of these men.
He he started to talk to one man and he asked him this question and without any hesitation he said, oh Sir, I'd keep as far away from the edge as I could. And your friend, isn't that a lesson for us? Isn't that the meaning of the Lords Prayer lead us not into temptation? And let me say to each one, especially those who are young and we who are older need it too.
Let's not go close to temptation.
Let's not say, well, I can take care of myself. I heard a young Christian say, I know how far to go. We can't control ourselves when we play ourselves very on the very edge of the precipice. And supposing those horses that jumped suddenly, why, that man with all his experience might have found himself going over the edge. So the captain of our salvation will lead us in a safe path.
And he's able to lead us.
And each one of us, when we get up in the morning and over and over again through the day, say, Lord, guide me in a path that's pleasing to thee. He wants to guide us. You know, when Nehemiah found himself in a difficult spot in the presence of the king, the king asked him a question. And before he answered the question, a Swiss little prayer went up. And it says, so I prayed to the God of heaven, and I said to the king.
Before he answered the question, a little prayer had gone up to the Lord.
Only give us grace and to acknowledge that there's One who can lead us in safe paths for ways or ways of pleasantness. And all her powers are peace.
But now there was more than this.
Tells us that Moses, Aaron and her went up to the top of the hill.
Now I believe this brings to us the fact that the Lord Jesus has gone up on high. Moses, Joshua, I believe, represents to us Christ in the power of the Spirit, leading us here, leading us into the possession of our heavenly portion.
But Moses going up to the top of the hill brings before us what we have in Hebrews. Perhaps he could turn to it. I think it's the fourth chapter.
Verse 14. Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession, for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, that was in all points tempted, like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may be able, that we may obtain mercy.
And find grace to help in time of need.
And then in the 7th chapter, in the 24th verse.
But this man, because he continueth, ever hath an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us. Well, here we find that there was there is one who is passed into the heavens. And just as you watch Moses go up to the top of the hill and hold up his hand.
So it tells us that we have one who has gone up as our.
Great high priest, and as we sang in our little hymn for earth, his hands uplifting in sympathy and love. And so that blessed One is our high priest, and he's gone up there. And it tells us that when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed and that just means this I believe that when we meet these temptations of life, that if we try to meet them in our.
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Own strength, Amalek prevailed. The flesh within us is so weak that Satan knows just the right moment to bring the attack and were not able to meet the situation. And so we failed and we let the flesh act. And in that sense Amalek prevailed. But when we look up and say, Lord Jesus, I'm helpless. I I just can't meet this situation in my own strength. There's one up there and it says.
That he ever liveth to make intercession for us. It says, let us come boldly under the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and so we can come with absolute confidence. A friend of ours might weary of us coming and asking for help, but he never will. He says come boy, and all that's required is that it's a time of need.
Is there a time of need come in your life? Do you feel the pressures almost too strong? You say, oh, I just feel so upset and so discouraged that I just feel like turning aside or going into the world. Well, there's one up on high. He passed through this world. He knows what it is to be forsaken by friends. It tells us in speaking prophetically of the Lord Jesus.
If it had been an enemy, I could have borne it, but mine own familiar friend in.
Whom I trusted hath lifted up his his heel against me. Was he misunderstood? They laughed him to scorn. Was he not appreciated? All the disciples forsook him and fled. Oh, he's been through the whole pathway. But that's just the kind of person that we need. One who has been through the pathway before us.
And when it tells us in the.
7th chapter it says he has an unchangeable priesthood. The thought is that he it isn't a priesthood that passes from one to another.
You know, you might have a person that you have turned to for help, and then that friend dies and you say there's nobody that understood me like him. There's nobody that understood me like she did. And now I don't have that person to turn to. But this is lovely. We have one who has an unchangeable priesthood. And I like to think of it in this way, too.
That he knows all about our families. You know, each one of us have certain families.
Great. If you have a good physician who's well acquainted with your family, it's pretty nice to go to him and feel that he understands your family and your whole family situation. Isn't it lovely, this Glee high priest that's up on high? He knew my father's, he knew my mother, he knew my bringing up. He watched me from childhood. He knows all the things that have molded to make my life what it is and my disposition what it is.
He has lived.
Up there on high and watch my footsteps every step of the pathway. Isn't it lovely? He has an unchangeable I believe in another translation. It's it's not a priesthood that passes from one to another. And it says such a high priest became us.
And that is, that was just a kind of a high priest that we needed. And then it says he's able to save to the uttermost. You know, Osama taken that verse to mean that he would save the vilest Sinner. And that's true. But that isn't really what the verse refers to when it says he's able to say to the uttermost. It is this now that you can never be in such a difficult spot that he can't help you.
You might say, oh, but I couldn't.
Expect help. That was an impossible situation. He says. No, I'm able to say to the uttermost, no matter how difficult the situation was, even if nobody else had ever been in it before, he knows all about it, and he's able to say it to the outermost. And so there he is. And what does he want us to do? Well, he just wants us to come and ask for help.
In time of need and he was supplied the help of the help.
And it says such a high priest became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled. You know, sometimes we ask help of friends.
00:45:03
And we tell them the story of what happened, and we tell them the way we felt. And they say, I don't blame you. I would have felt the same. I would have given him a piece of my mind if anybody talked like that to me. That person didn't help us. That person only hindered us. That person who perhaps tried to enter into our situation actually encouraged us to do something that was wrong.
But when we look up to our great High Priest and we tell him.
The whole situation, he says, I know all about it and I'll help you. You don't need to get upset. You don't need to get angry because I'll supply all the grace that you need to meet that situation because he has been through it perfectly. He is the one who enters into the whole situation and supplies that grace. That's why it says such a high priest became That's the kind of health that we needed.
And he's ever there.
Day and night at all times to supply that to us.
And now we notice here in reading this incident and it's very interesting that it does speak of one of Moses hands going down, but it never says that both his hands went down. That has been very interesting to me. It says here when Moses hand was up, Israel prevailed. When his hand went down Amalek prevailed. But then it says in the end of the 12TH verse and his.
Hands were steady until the going.
Down to the sun. So it's quite evident the other hand never went down well. I like to think of those two hands as representing the two parts of the Lord Jesus work for us. When does Amalek prevail in our lives?
Well, when we don't ask help from the Lord, it's just as if His hand was down. We didn't ask His help. And so we tried to meet the situation in our own strength, and Amalek prevailed. He was too strong for us.
And so that's why I believe it says that when his hand went down, Amalek prevailed. So it tells us that when Moses was there, on one side was Aaron and he held up his hand, and on the other side was her. Aaron was the high priest. And the word her means purity. And so I believe that the Lord Jesus is ever living to make intercession. The thought in his going down, the going down of his hand, is that we didn't ask him for help.
Well then, you say, why didn't the other hand go down? Well, let's turn to 1St John, and perhaps we'll get the answer here, the first Epistle of John.
And the first chapter. And the eighth verse.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in US.
My little children, these things right I am to you that ye sin not.
And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
Now you notice here that that verse 1, John 2 and verse one doesn't say if any man confess his sin, we have an advocate with the Father, but it says if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father. And that I believe is the reason why it doesn't say that the Lord's other hand went down.
Can I put it very simply with this? I didn't ask the Lord's help, so I let the flesh act. I grieved and dishonored my blessed Lord, but before I had ever confessed it, He was there in the presence of God as my advocate, acting on my behalf. For notice I say again, it doesn't say if any man confesses sin, but if any man sin, we have an advocate. The very moment the believer sins. There's one up there.
In the presence of God, who not only died for us, but he's there to maintain our cause before God. And whether even when we have sinned, he maintains our cause. And it says Jesus Christ the righteous. If I were to break one of the laws of the United States and I hire a lawyer to get me off, how can he do it if I'm guilty?
How can he do it? I don't know how he could do it righteously, but I have still.
And yet I have a righteous advocate before the Father. How can he be righteous when I have failed as a believer? Well, he already paid for that sin. He already settled the whole thing long ago. And there he is in the presence of God for me. He's the propitiation for our sins. They're the one who met the question of my sins at Calvary. He says he's failed, but I already met that sin. And so that hand.
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Down that hand never goes down. The believer is always maintained in perfect standing before God. Failure in the believer's life doesn't change your standing before God.
It dishonors the Lord, it gets us out of communion with Him. It's a sad testimony here in this world, but it doesn't change our standing. Oh, how blessed it is then, to see that He's there.
Well, it is supposed that I have a very good lawyer and I have done something that's wrong. And now I go to the lawyer after a couple of weeks and say to him, oh, I did something here in my business. I'm afraid it's going to get some trouble for me.
And I hope you can fix it up. Oh, he said. I I saw what happened just the very day it happened. And I've already acted to protect you. But I'm glad you came and told me.
I'm glad you came and told me about it, and now my mind is relieved. And now isn't it blessed that when a believer sins, what does he do? Well, he comes before the Lord Jesus as the Advocate, the one who has taken up our cause. And it says if we confess our sins. I just like to say a little word about the difference between asking forgiveness and confessing, because I've heard some Christians say.
Way. Well, when I fail as a believer, I ask the Lord to forgive me. Well, you know, it tells us in this same epistle, your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. And as far as the question of our standing before God, now that has been settled once and for all. We have forgiveness through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
But then it tells us if we confess our sins. Well, I'd like to illustrate it like this. Supposing I did something wrong to you and I come to you and say, will you forgive me? Am I not raising the question about whether you're going to say yes or no? If I say will you forgive me, you're at liberty to answer me yes or no. But if you said to me.
Gordon, I've already forgiven you in my heart.
But I would like you to say you're sorry. That's a little different, isn't it? And that's what happens. That's what the believer does. He comes before the Lord. And I think it's a lot more humbling to say you're sorry. Somehow it's a little easier to say that. Will you forgive me? But when you come to Him and truly take your place and say, oh, I know that it cost my precious Savior all that agony on Calvary's cross to put away that.
And the things that he loved me in spite of it all. And to think that he died for that very sin and suffered so much. Oh, I'm sorry that I grieved him in this way. And so the believer in confessing his sin, he acknowledges before the Lord what he has done. And now that verse in first chapter, in the ninth verse, that is first John 1 and verse 9.
I just like to call attention to the two parts of that verse.
Says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. It doesn't stop there. It says, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now that is, there is a danger with us when we come to acknowledge something before the Lord, of doing it in a very light way. But I believe that if when we confessed it before Him, we thought of what it cost Him to put away sin.
Really got to the root of it, and I haven't time tonight to speak of it, but if you read the 19th chapter of Numbers about the water of separation sprinkled on the defiled man, you'll notice that there wasn't only the ashes of the heifer, but there was cedar wood and scarlet and hyssop. Why are those other things brought in? Well, it's true that the Lord Jesus died unto sin, but it's good for us to recognize.
That the root of all our failures is the cedar. Wood represents our importance. And don't we often fail because we're such important beings, or we think we are, that we just go ahead without asking help? We just think we're so strong in our natural character that we can meet the situation. We're just like the great big theaters. We think we're pretty important. But the cedar had to be brought down to ashes. And then there's the scarlet we like to be.
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Popular scarlet is a color that's noticed and we like to be popular. You know, we, we just don't like to do things that hurt our friends and how often we've done something wrong and we hurt the Lord rather than hurt a friend. The scarlet had to be burned too, to ashes. And then what about the hyssop all? Perhaps there's somebody I like to compare it to. Inferiority complex.
You know, there's some Christians and they say, oh, I'm no use.
And find no good. And so they just are so occupied with themselves in their own nothingness that they fail in discouragement. They fail in other ways because they're so occupied with the fact that they're nothing. And so they look at the person who is the feeder and they look at the person who's the scarlet. And they don't realize that itself in them just in another form.
But in the death of Christ, self is put to an end altogether. Big self.
Popular self, little self, everything all had to reduce to ashes. And you know, when we really judge things before the Lord, as we should, we not only judge the sin, but we get to the root of it. What was it that made me do it? What made Peter deny the Lord? Well, he thought he was a little better than the rest of the disciples. And very often, if we trace our sins down, we'll find that there's something of those three things that's at the root of our trouble.
The Habitation of God
Law and Grace
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Pardon me, The 31St chapter of Exodus.
Exodus Chapter.
31.
And verse 18.
And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, 2 tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with a finger of God.
Then shall we turn over to Deuteronomy and the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy?
And the first verse.
And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments, which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.
Now shall we turn over to 2nd Corinthians?
2nd Corinthians, chapter 2.
And verse 18.
But as God is true, our words, pardon me, chapter 1 and verse 18, but as God is true, our word towards you was not, Yeah. And nay, for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Sylvanus and Timotheus was not, Yeah. And nay, but in him was yeah, for all the promises of God in him are yeah.
And in him Amen unto the glory of God.
God by us now He who establishes us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. Moreover, I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you, I came not as yet unto Corinth, not for that we have dominion over your face, but our helpers of your joy for by faith.
Ye stand.
Now the third chapter in the first verse, do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or need we as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? Here our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men.
For as much as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. And such trust have we through Christ to Godward, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.
Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament?
Not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kill us, but the Spirit give us life.
But if the ministration of death, written, and in brave and in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away, how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious?
Now we pass on.
The 17th verse. Now the Lord is that spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty, but we all with open face beholding us in a glass, the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Dear friends.
We are all enjoying what we had in the three days of meetings together, a great deal about fruit bearing, producing that fruit that is pleasing to the Lord Jesus, pleasing to God our Father, who is the husbandman. And I was just thinking of the contrast between law and grace. I was thinking of how too God sits before us in this way, how there can be that fruit not only in our lives individually.
But in our lives collectively, as a testimony.
Gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a privilege it is that we can be a testimony in this way here in this world.
And the reason I read these verses in Exodus and in Deuteronomy is because we have the law brought before us there. God gave those 10 commandments to Moses and they were written by the finger of God. They were written on tables of stone. They were God requirements for man in the flesh.
And it tells us in this 28th chapter of Deuteronomy that if it were possible for Israel to fulfill these requirements, that they would be set on high above all the nations of the earth, and great blessing would be upon them.
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There was a place of responsibility for them.
But why was the law written on tables of stone? Well, I believe the written it was written on tables of stone because that's a picture of what the natural heart is. There's no response in stone. You can take a chisel and cut something out in stone, but there will be no response in the stone. It'll be cut out. It'll be able you can read what's there. But I say again, there is no response within the.
The stone, it's hard, and that's really what the heart of man is.
In fact, when God brings Israel into blessing, as He will in a future day, it tells us that He will take away the Stony heart out of their flesh, and He'll give them a heart of flesh now. That is, they'll no longer have hearts that don't respond to His desires for them. And if there's anyone here tonight who is unsaved, if we were to bring before you God's requirements, it would be like asking you to do something that you have neither the power nor the desire to.
How could a person who is yet in his sins, how could a person who has not been born again, love the Lord with all his heart? Why, dear friends, we love him because he first loved us, but that's what the law required. And how could a person who's naturally selfish for all our hearts are like that, love his neighbor as himself? We all know how that more or less that self is what the natural man lives for.
In our unconverted days that the way we live, and since we have been saved only in the measure in which the old man is put in the place of death, can we actually live to please God, because the characteristic of this whole world is living for self. In fact, when God speaks about not being conformed to this world in the 12TH chapter of Romans, He brings before us first of all not to think of ourselves.
More highly than we ought to think. What is conformity to this world? Well, it's just having a very good opinion of yourself. The whole world operates on that principle, Having a good opinion of yourself.
But when we're changed from conformity to the world to conformity to Christ, why then we don't have a very good opinion of ourselves, but we have a very wonderful opinion of the Lord Jesus, and it's our desire then, now that not self would be seen.
But as the apostle said, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. Now that is, instead of self being set forward, Christ is the one who is set forward. How beautifully the apostle Paul did this, because when the Saints spoke against him and said that, his bodily presence was weak and his speech contemptible.
When he turned them away from himself, he didn't want them to be occupied with him. He desired that they would learn of Christ, they would be occupied with him. And that as we have in that epistle, that portion that we read in Corinthians, Christ would be the the one who would be seen in their lives. And so I say again that under the law it was written on tables of stone, a picture of the human heart, and if fulfilled, it would set.
The nation of Israel up on high, it would make them to be a testimony in the earth of a people who had such wonderful laws, such wonderful instructions, and carried them out. But what was the result of why there was a curse for disobedience and there was a blessing for obedience. There was a yeah, and there was a nay. And what happened? Well, instead of getting the blessing, they earned the curses.
And so the result was that that.
Nation was driven out from their land. They were made they were made a hiss and a byword among the nations because their possession of the land was a conditional 1 and they didn't live up to God's requirements. But now they want to bring out. In contrast, what God has done in Christianity. He hasn't pounded out upon tables of stone what he requires us to do. But isn't it wonderful he has given to the.
Believer a new life, and now he is writing Christ upon our heart in contrast to the tables of stone.
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In which Israel failed and they were only a sample of man in the flesh. Instead, He has now given to you and IA new life, a life that delights in pleasing him. That's the force, I believe of that verse in the end of the 12TH chapter of John, it says, and I know that his commandment is life everlasting. That is, God has given us a life, the delight in pleasing him.
Everything that he wants us to do.
The new life that he has given us delights in doing.
And that's why he says in that passage, shall we turn to it again now in Second Corinthians chapter 1?
And the 18th verse. But as God is true, our words towards you was not. Yeah, and nay. And that is there was. If we had read the chapters before the 28th of Deuteronomy, we would have seen the blessings and the curses. There was a yay and there was a nay.
But he said it's not so in Christianity. It's not. Yeah. And nay, because all blessing depends upon what Christ has done. That blessed and glorious work that he accomplished on the cross of Calvary has so fully met the claims of a holy God that everyone in this room who has put his or her trust in the Lord Jesus is perfectly assured of all that God has in his heart for every believer blessed with all.
Spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ.
There are many who would make these conditional, even to the point of thinking they might be lost again. But Paul said that wasn't our preaching. He said our preaching was not. Yeah. And they. Because all the promises of God in him are. Yeah. And in him. Amen to the glory of God. Because God has been so perfectly glorified in the work of his beloved Son. He has been so perfectly glorified about the whole sin question.
And at the moment you put your trust in the Lord Jesus, why, all that comes as a result of that work is yours and yours forever. Oh, how blessed it is to know this. And so that the position of those under law was conditional. But in Christianity, I repeat, it's not. Yeah. And may all the promises of God in him are. Yeah. And then to give assurance to this.
It mentions here.
As that in the 21St verse. Now he which establishes us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God. Isn't this lovely? It tells us in Revelation chapter one, that we have been made kings and priests unto God and his Father. When the king was chosen for a position, he was anointed. The Spirit of God comes and indwells the believer, and he is the power for testimony. He is the the power or the.
By which we can understand the precious things of Christ. For it says, What man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of a man which is in him. Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit which is of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
So when you receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you're anointed. And then more, it says.
You're sealed who hath also sealed us. Isn't this beautiful too? You know if you buy a piece of property, why when that document is completed, there's a seal put on it and that makes it official and God wants you and I to know that we belong to Christ and that we have as it were the very title deed to this assurance. And just as you pull out of your strong box that that title deed and you say, well there it is. That's the proof the property is mine. There's.
Upon it the official seal. And isn't it lovely to know that the Spirit of God is the seal for the believer to have this assurance that he belongs to Christ, where his and his forever little hymn says, I am his, and he is mine, forever and forever. And then it says, He has given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
You know, we have the salvation of our souls, but there is something that we're waiting for. We're waiting for the salvation of our bodies. We haven't yet received that. It says in Romans chapter 8 that we wait for the redemption to we wait for the the adoption to whip the redemption of our body. That's what we're waiting for. We have, I say again, the salvation of our souls, but what assurance has God?
00:15:05
Man, that He is going to complete that work. He saved our souls, He put the seal upon us, but He's also given the earnest, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of His glory. And to know, brethren, I really enjoyed what is brought before us here, the earnest of the Spirit. And I have thought of it like this, when a person is going to buy a piece of property.
Why he puts down a certain.
Amount of money, which is called the earnest money, at least that's what it's called in Canada, and that's the assurance that he is going to carry through the deal and that money is the proof that he intends to be sincere and carry through this deal. Well, let us suppose that there was a piece of property that was worth $20,000 and a man comes to purchase this piece of property and the agent asked him to place some money on it as an earnest well.
Man writes out a check for $50,000 and he said, why? What did you do that for the the property's only worth $20,000? Well, he said, I really want to have that property and I'm willing to put $50,000 down to be sure that that property is mine. So he writes out this check and he gives it to them. The earnest is greater than the value of the property itself.
Oh, isn't this lovely, brethren? What has God done poor, worthless things like we are.
And what did he give for the earner? What was the proof that he was going to finish what he had begun? He gave the earnest of the Spirit. Think of the Spirit of God, one of the Persons of the Trinity, who indwells the body of the believer, as though God would give you the grandest and greatest pledge that was possible, that He's going to complete what he has begun. Can't you see the marvelous contrast? Here was the law written on tables of stone.
The fulfillment of which would have lifted them up on high.
All the nations of the earth, but it showed God's requirements and man couldn't fulfill them. But what is the position of the church as a testimony here in the world? Not to show a people that were able to fulfill God's requirements, but to show a people that had received that blessing, that was in the heart of God, that are walking in this world in the enjoyment of it, and that are a testimony in this world to that blessed and glorious fact that they belong?
Christ, oh what a contrast this is. And I believe, brethren, this is what is brought out to us in what is set before us in the 3rd chapter. And I just like to speak a little of this and the consequent result of it as a fruit in our lives. So notice here in the 3rd chapter. Do we begin again to commend ourselves, or need we as some others? Epistles of commendation to you are letters of commendation from you.
Well, we know the.
Custom that when a person goes to a place where he's not known why, it's the wisdom of God that he should carry a letter of commendation. Now this letter makes it known that he is in happy fellowship where he is, so that he might be received in another place. Well, isn't it a marvelous thing that believers are spoken of in that way, as a letter of commendation in this world?
For Christ.
Now that is just as that person who carries the letter of commendation is commended to the place where he goes, so the Lord Jesus has gone up on high. But He has left down here in this world of those who would be a testimony as to what He has done for us, what a place He has put us in. And so that letter is written with ink.
But what has God done in order that you and I might be attention?
For him here in this world, well, He has written not on a table of stone, but he has written Christ upon our heart.
And everyone in this room who has really received the Lord Jesus as your Savior, isn't this a lovely thing that God has written Christ upon your heart. Now that is, you really belong to him. You know in baptism it says as many of you as were baptized unto Christ have put on Christ. Now that is, in baptism the name of Christ is placed upon a person. Now that is an outward thing. It isn't really.
The salvation of his soul, because a person might be baptized and not be saved at all. But I say it's an outward thing by which the name of Christ is placed upon him. But what is it that makes him really a child of God? Why, the Spirit of God gives to him a new life, and then the Spirit of God comes in and indwells his body. And the work of the Spirit of God is to shed abroad the love of God in our hearts. It's.
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Christ upon our hearts to make him precious to us, so that as we read in our chapter in the meetings in the 15th of John, he shall testify of me. Yes, the blessed Holy Spirit of God delights to bring Christ before us. He has won our hearts. He has put away our sins and his precious blood.
But just like the Israelites, He was not only safe under the blood that was sprinkled on the lentil and the two side posts, but inside the home there was a feast. He was inside the home feeding upon the roast lamb. And God not only wants us to know that we're secure in Christ. Are we going to stop at the knives that we're secure in Christ? Oh, how important. He's writing Christ upon our heart. He wants us to enjoy in our in most souls.
Now what He has done for us so that our very faces would reflect something of the fact that we have found a satisfying portion. The heart in the Bible is a figure of the seed of the affections. And so when one is saved, his heart is 1 for Christ. And that's why it speaks about Christ being written upon the heart. And I say again now this is true of every believer and I believe.
We could also say that here in this epistle he is looking at it more in a collective sense, because he talks in the first verse about letters of commendation in the plural and epistles of commendation. But notice when he comes to the second verse, it's in the singular. Ye are our epistles, written in our hearts, known and read of all men.
I call attention to that because there is an individual side to it, but there's also a collective side, and God's assembly is to be the pillar and ground of the truth. We are responsible to maintain the truth of God, but we're also responsible collectively to display the character of Christ to the world just as that letter.
Affirms and assures the character of the person who carries it, God says.
The church here in this world, an assembly gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, is to be a commendation to the world of what Christ really means to us. Or isn't this something for us to think about? And it doesn't say that we should be that. It says we are that that someone has put it in these lines. We are the only Bible that careless world will read.
Yes, they may not read their Bibles, but I tell you, they watch us.
And I don't only watch us individually, but they watch us collectively. They knew, they know that they're a group of Christians who may hear, who are gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what do they expect they expect to see in this assembly? An epistle of Christ. An epistle of Christ. Isn't this something for us to think about? Oh, we might say, well, we seek to stand for the truth of God. Thank God for that. That's most important.
We're told about this in.
In Timothy, where it says that the Church of the living God is a pillar and ground of the truth. But here he's not talking so much about that side of things as rather the moral character that ought to display itself. And so he first sets before us that he are our epistle written in our hearts. And now there's the public side.
Known and read of all men for as much.
Ye are manifestly declared to be the Epistle of Christ. That is.
Whether we desire it or not, it is so because as soon as we mention the fact that we are gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, why the world has a right to expect that we would be a letter of commendation to them of the character of Christ, that they would see this in US. And so he said, we're manifestly declared to be this. And he said.
Written not with ink. Now that is, we don't have a certain coat of rules.
That are written that we're to live up to. But there is a certain character, and so the believer possessing the life of Christ has the capacity now to display that character before the world, even as it tells us in John's epistle. It says he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked.
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God has set before us a perfect standard.
It's true that we fail, and provision has been made for it, but one speaks rather of the position that we are to occupy here in this world. Now I might give you a letter, and perhaps the letter would be sadly blurred and you might find it hard to read.
You might look at it and you say, well, something's happened to this letter. Did you drop it in the water or something? I can hardly make out the words, but the words are there. But something happened to blur them. And something can happen to us now that that blurs this true character that has been made known to us. God has reached down to us. And I say again, the law was to make known to man what God's demands were.
But the church?
Which is a living epistle to the world, is to make known to the world what God's grace has done for us.
What He has done in picking us up and saving us, and that we possess a life now that is capable, ye desirous of pleasing Him. For it's not just us finding out well, this is what I ought to do, but it's finding out what is the will of our Father. And so He could say, and not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. Now that is when you write something upon flesh.
Why there's a response? Just try to write something on your hand and you'll feel everything. Your heart, your your last response. So he says, writing Christ upon the fleshy tables of the heart.
Such trust have we through Christ to Godward. I think this is a most beautiful expression. You know, there were things in the Corinthian assembly that grieved the heart of the apostle very much. You only have to read the First Epistle to see how many things there were that grieved his heart, and yet underneath all its display of the flesh that he had seen.
He makes this remark. And such trust have we.
Through Christ to Godward.
Now, that is Paul had confidence that these were true believers and that they had a desire to please the Lord. And you know, this often gives me great joy in talking to the Saints of God. It gives me great joy in talking to young people because no matter how careless a group of people may be, no matter how worldly they may have become, I have the confidence.
That knowing their true children of God, there is within them.
A life upon which Christ is written and that it may be, as I say, just like that letter that has been dropped in the water and it may be blurred, but there it is. And Paul said, in spite of all those things that have grieved my heart, in spite of all those things that you've said, he said, I have confidence that underneath it all there is that that new life and that Christ has been written upon your heart. And he said, I want.
Behind all this smudging and everything and see that Christ is really there. And isn't this a lovely saying? It's what gives us joy collectively as an assembly. Difficulties and trials come in among the Saints of God. Things where we display the flesh instead of the new man. But O brethren, if there would be with us 4 of this confidence that in everyone in the assembly if truly the Lord.
There is Christ written upon their heart.
There is a new life that desires to please him. There is the power of the Spirit of God and it tells us in John He give us not his spirit by measure. That is, He doesn't give more the Spirit of God to you than he gives to me. When the Spirit of God comes in, He's the full power. Now you know we may not use the power.
You might have a car with a very powerful motor, and you come to a hill, and if you don't step on the gas, your car may still halfway up the hill and there's nothing the matter with the motor, but you just didn't use the power that was there. You just didn't use it. And you have the Spirit of God. God giveth not His Spirit by measure in our translations in the third of John, it says unto him.
But in the new translation those two words unto him are left out. God giveth not His Spirit by measure.
The Lord Jesus walked in this world and the power of the Spirit of God always doing his Father's will. And as I look into the faces of those who are here tonight. It gives joy to my heart that I can say with the apostles such trust have we through Christ to Godward that there is of that new life. There is that power. And if you and I will only allow the Spirit of God to do what he wants to do with us.
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And there will be that response in our lives to his claims.
There will be those renewed affections for him and for his people. I don't say there ought to be. I say there will be, because that power is there, that life is there, and that's why he speaks in this way.
And he says, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God, who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament. Here we find the key of the dear servant of God. He said not that we're sufficient of ourselves. This letter that he wrote to the Corinthians was inspired by the Spirit of God. And don't we often feel when situations.
Arise, how insufficient we are. We say, oh, I just don't know what to say. I don't know what to do. We're not sufficient of ourselves. We need dependence upon the Lord or we'll do the wrong thing. We'll say the wrong thing, and maybe we'll try to pound out something on a table of stone instead of writing on the fleshy tables of the heart. Because whenever someone speaks to that new man, there's a response. There's a response.
And Paul said that I don't have any sufficiency in myself. We often have heard this expression. The flesh never corrects the flesh. And if you see the flesh in me and you try to correct it by the flesh, perhaps you get the flesh back about the Spirit. The flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the spirit against the flesh. That is the Spirit of God is able, that gives us the energy and power to keep that old nature in the place of.
So that the life of Jesus might be seen.
And so, he said, we're not sufficient of ourselves.
But God has made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the latter, but of the Spirit, for the letter kill us, but the Spirit and give us life. He's contrasting the law, which was the letter, and the Spirit, which is that which God has given to us. Now in Christianity. Now that is the law made certain demands. I say it was the letter of the law. It must be fulfilled.
How about in Christianity? What God desires is that you and I would do.
What we do with us out of love for the Lord Jesus now, it doesn't mean that He hasn't made His mind known to us in very many things.
But perhaps some of you have heard a little expression my father used to make. He said if we did everything right, nothing would be right unless the motive was right.
Supposing I could stand here and tell and to you, well, this is what you should do and you did it. It wouldn't have any value in the sight of God unless you did it out of love for the Lord Jesus.
It wouldn't have any value, no, what God is seeking is that which is produced in your heart and mind by the Spirit of God, a heart responding to His claims and oh, how He delights in it.
Someone said one time he was so concerned because he knew so little of the things of God, so little of the truth of God's words. And his brother, in replying to him, he said, oh, what concerns me is to carry out what I do know.
I asked, brethren, isn't that true as that we might carry out what we do know, that our hearts would respond more readily, and perhaps you might say, well, are there some things I don't see just as you see them, a brother hayhole? Well, perhaps that's so, but what I'm seeking to do is not to minister the letter, but the spirit. Now that is, if there can be that desire produced in your heart to please the Lord.
And if you can produce that desire in my heart to please the Lord, then he'll.
Show us his mind, He'll show us his mind because He tells us. And if in anything he be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. Paul said we don't all attain to the same place in our Christian life, but he said we can all have the same rule. And what is the rule of the Christian life? It's to have.
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Christ as our object and His word is our God. Now God always leaves room for growth in the things of God. The object of all ministry is till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. And to the perfect man, it's growing up unto him in all things that's the object of ministry. But I say again, brethren, when I'm seeking to bring before you is not the letter, but the Spirit, because I'm confident of this.
And that if we only have more desire to please the Lord and go on in the manifestation of the moral character of Christ, we'll get to see a lot of things that we haven't seen before, that there will be a lot of problems and difficulties that will soon be cleared up because the Spirit of Christ is manifested. Someone made this comment and I was very struck. He said the church was in its happiest state when it knew the least.
When it knew the least, yes, on the day of Pentecost, it knew very little of those things that many of us know right now. It was in its happiest state. And why? All because they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Christ was everything to them, and they were all desirous to know His will. And so it tells us. They continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayer, walking up to the light they had.
It says the multitude of the disciples were of 1 heart and one soul. How lovely this was. And that's what the apostle speaks out here.
And now he goes on in the chapter and in the 18th, at the 17th verse he says, now the Lord is that spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty is really Speaking of what he has. I might say here that from the beginning of the seventh verse until the end of the 16th verse is really a parenthesis.
You have a new translation. You'll notice this so that I'll just read the.
Part of the sixth verse here, for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. Now the 17th verse. Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Now that is, the Lord is that Spirit. That is the Spirit of God always occupies us with Christ. The mind of the Spirit and the mind of the Lord are one and the same thing. And so he says, the Lord is that spirit that.
Is he has given us this life and he has given us this new power, and he tells us where the spirit of the Lord is. There is liberty. You say, well, if I tried to please the Lord and everything, I think that would be a life of *******. No, says Paul. That would be liberty. That would be real liberty, because isn't it nice to please somebody?
That seeks only your happiness, seeks only.
Or good. It's not hard to please somebody who has those kind of thoughts towards you. And so where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty that is pleasing him is true liberty. The Lord Jesus said he shall know the truth and the truth shall make you slaves. No, the truth shall make you free, make you free.
A little poem was found in Mr. Darby's Bible when he died. Free from myself.
Lord Jesus, free from the thoughts of men, chains of thought that had bound me, never shall bind again, only thyself. Lord Jesus conquered this wayward will, but for thy love constraining I had been wayward still. All it can say to every young Christian and to all of us here in this room, true liberty is to please the Lord.
It's bonded to do your own will.
Find a person that's doing just what they please from morning till night and you won't find a happy person. You won't find a person that's at ease. But find one who has the desire to please the Lord and you'll find one who has found true liberty. True liberty never asked us to do anything until He gives us something better than what we already have and then gives us the power to do it.
Oh, how wonderful. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
And I might add too, this isn't only in our lives individually, but this is in God's assembly. There's liberty. Not liberty for the flesh, but liberty for the Spirit to lead us. And what for? Well, to occupy us with Christ.
And you know, even the truth of it is much more simple when we look at it in this way. One of sometimes made a little comment like this, that you can make a simple test of any doctrine that is presented by just asking this does this exalt man or does it exalt Christ?
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And you'll notice that false doctrine always brings in something for the exaltation of man.
Bring in a man likes to bring in something in which the flesh can glory, and so he introduces into Christianity some of those things in which the the flesh can glory. But you can detect it once that it's wrong if it exalts man because God's done with the first man.
Our old man is crucified with him. He's done with him.
And what he is now doing is seeking to produce in us by the Spirit of God and through the new life that he has given to us, fruit for God. And it's liberty. And so even in the assembly, what liberty, what a privilege to be gathered in the liberty of the Spirit of God, where he's free to occupy our hearts with Christ, to point us to him. And I think this is important for us to remember in any part that we take in the assembly. It should always be.
To exalt Christ, to honor him now, that's what God by his Spirit would have before us. He would occupy us with Him.
And now He tells us the secret of it all. But we all with open faith or unveiled faith, beholding us in a glass, the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Now that is.
Now the Spirit of God occupies us with Christ, and as we are occupied with Him, we become like Him. We're changed into the same image, just as He has talked before in the chapter about Moses. Moses went up on the mount.
When he received the.
Instructions in connection with the sacrifices and the Tabernacle. He came down and his face was shining.
But it says he wists not that the skin of his face was shining. Did he try to make it shine? Did he put something on to make it shine? Did he practice in front of the mirror to make his face shine? No, he didn't even know it was shining. Why? Well, he's been in the presence of the Lord and the revelation of his love and His grace.
Reflected in his faith. It reflected, I say, in his faith. And now you say, well, I must try and be more Christ like. Oh, says the apostle, you just get your eyes upon the Lord and you won't have to do something about your faith. It'll show. It'll show. If you ever notice in that beautiful 42nd Psalm, the first Psalm in the second book of the Psalm, and there's a person and he's really cast down. He's really discouraged.
Things seem almost.
Insurmountable to him. And he says, Why art thou cast down on my soul? Why art thou disguided within me? Then he says, Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
He found help from his countenance, but as you read on through the Psalm and you come to the last verse, it's a little bit different. It's almost word for word, but he repeats it in a little different way. He says, Why art thou cast down on my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him who is the help of my countenance and my God. Notice in the fifth verse of that Psalm he talks about.
The health of.
His countenance, For when he comes to the last verse verse, he says, He's the health of my countenance. What had happened? well-being in the presence of the Lord.
Lifted above the difficulties that were casting him down, something happened in his own countenance. And isn't this blessed are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. And I like this expression from glory.
To glory, you know, sometimes we were older, we want to we want to make changes take place too quickly, but in this gracious on the part of God and speaking here, he says from glory to glory. We think perhaps some young person should just change overnight. But you know it says from glory to glory that is occupation with him.
You see more and more conformity to him, just as it says about.
Samson, his parents were watching him and the first thing that they noticed, it says the Spirit of God began to move him. The Spirit of God began to move him. What a joy that must have been to their hearts. And if we're looking for us, we'll see the Spirit of God begin to move and we'll be thankful. We may not see it all at once, but in occupation with him we're changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. So.
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Chapter We have what we are in this world, where the epistle of Christ, we have the solemn fact that the world is watching and reading this epistle were known and read of all men. Oh, you say, but I'm afraid they see a pretty blurry example in me all that, says the apostle, Do you want me? You want the image to be what it should be, he says. Then you just turn and get occupied with Christ, and that image will be produced.
You'll be changed into his image.
Perhaps I could just go back here and call attention to a little point here that.
It says in the.
Uh, 4:15 First, for even unto this day when Moses is read, the veil is upon their hearts, nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now perhaps you've noticed here in the 13th verse of this chapter it speaks of the veil being over Moses faith.
Now that is God was not fully revealed in the Old Testament. There was a partial revelation of God, but not a full 1. And so the veil was on Moses face. But now God has come out and fully revealed himself in Christ. And so God says about Israel, they're not in the same position. When Moses came down, the veils had to be put over his face, but he said not. So now the veil is upon their heart. The veil is upon their heart. There's no veil.
On the face of him, because he has died, he has risen, he has glorified God, He has told out the heart of God in all its fullness. And if there's any veil on your heart, and if there's any veil on your heart and mind, it's not because it's on his face, it's on our hearts. What's the remedy, will you say? If I could just, I think I've got a lot of veils in my heart and I've got a lot of things covering up my affections that they don't respond.
And it's a very simple answer.
The Lord says, he says, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil should be taken away. Think of that marvelous moment when Israel will look into the face of him whom they pierced. And they realized that in spite of all that they did, that He loved them. And He's come to deliver them and bless them. And the veil be gone from their hearts at once. And you and I couldn't be occupied for 5 minutes with what the Lord Jesus has done for us. But we wouldn't find some veils getting lifted off our hearts. The veils are there because.
We haven't turned to the Lord. We've looked at circumstances, we've looked at troubles, we've looked at people, we've looked at misfortunes and sorrows that have come in life. But when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
Now I just like to call attention before we close to a few little points as to this character displayed in the 5th chapter of of this Second Corinthians and the 14th verse.
For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead, and that he died for all. That they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
And we also turn over to the 8th chapter and the ninth verse.
For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. That he through his poverty, might be rich.
Now the 10th chapter and the first verse.
Now I, Paul myself, beseech you by the meekness.
And gentleness of Christ.
And now let's turn over to the 12TH chapter.
And the ninth verse.
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
The reason I've read these few verses because I mentioned at the beginning that I just like to say a little bit about the fruit of the Spirit and how it can be manifested in our lives.
And after the Spirit of God through the apostle has occupied us with Christ, then he brings before us some of this precious fruit, love, grace, meekness, gentleness, and resultant power. And I think this is very lovely, the way it's brought before us in this second epistle, because if we are occupied with Christ as it's precious fruit, then we'll be seen.
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And just as we remarked in the beginning.
The assembly is to be the epistle of Christ. And what ought the world to see? Well, they ought to see a people who are constrained to live for Christ because he loves them, who aren't doing things. I remember in the office where I worked, there was something came up and one of the girls said to me, does your church say that you can't do that? And I said, well, it's not that. I love the Lord Jesus and I want to please him.
Well then, all that's the way the world looks at things. They they have certain rules, you know, they have the letter. But in this lovely the love of Christ constraineth us, that we should not live unto ourselves, but unto him. Yes, it doesn't say the love of Christ should constrain us.
If I had a magnet here and I had some nails, I wouldn't say the magnet should pick up the nails. I'd say the magnet does pick up the nails. And So what does the love of Christ enjoyed in the soul do with us?
Why? It just has the effect of drawing us after the magnet. That is, I bring the magnet down and those nails don't go where they want to go. They go where the magnet takes them. They're constrained. They're pulled along by that magnet. They might be rusted, but if they're the right kind of material, they might have shining brass ones, and they wouldn't be attracted at all to the magnet. But as long as they're steel, they may be dirty, they may be greasy, they may be rusty.
But as soon as you bring the magnet, something happens. They begin to move and they begin to follow the magnet. And so you see love constrained. And wouldn't it be nice if as the world looked on us, they say, well, there's a people that really enjoy the love of Christ and it seems to affect their life. It seems to make a new power and motive in their lives. The love of Christ constraineth us. Well, what are the rules of the group? Well, I don't think they have any rules.
But they just say they want to please the Lord. They just want to please the Lord. Oh, isn't this beautiful? If we want to please the Lord, if His love captivates our hearts, why we're constrained not to live unto ourselves, but unto Him.
And then we come to the next one in the eighth chapter.
And the ninth verse.
For you know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that she through his poverty might be rich. What is grace? Well, it's the undeserved favor of God. And we didn't deserve his goodness at all. And this is the way we are to act with one another. You say, well, the way that person acted, I, I don't feel like showing very much kindness to him.
Well, what? How had we acted?
Oh, we had gone on in our sins, we had lived in our sins, we had gone on with hearts that had no response to all his love and all his grace. But he became poor. He came down to this world. He said, show me a penny. He was born in a Manger. He took the lowest place among men. And why? To make us Wretch.
To make us rich.
Want to be grand? If we show this character, always say the person didn't deserve us. Well, it's not a question of that. I didn't deserve anything either. Nothing but judgment if you talk about deserving something. But how does the Lord act to me? Well, he became poor, that I might be unspeakably rich. The unsearchable riches of Christ. That's another one of the characters, one of the graces, one of the fruits of the Spirit that ought to be seen in US. And so here we have.
We have love, we have grace, the way we deal with one another.
Are to be seen by others. Now that we the world says, well, he treated me unkindly, I'll treat him the same. Well, they ought to see something different in us. They ought to see those who are willing to make sacrifices because we love one another, not because the person deserves it, but because we want to show the character of Christ. He's been written on our hearts and we're bearing a testimony which the world is watching.
Do they see the grace of Christ?
And then we come to this 10th chapter, and here was Paul writing to these people, and they had said that his bodily presence was weak and his speech contemptible. How would you feel if somebody said that about you?
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Well, I just hate to look at that person. He really is A and it just makes me upset to look at him. And when you hear him talk, it's just contemptible to hear him talk. Would you feel pretty friendly and kind toward that person? Here's the way Paul acted. He he wrote to them and he says, I beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.
All that precious Savior who said, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. Think of all the things that were said about Him. And yet He died for the very one that spoke against him. He died for the very disciples that forsook him and fled. He ever returned a good for man's evil, and then gentleness.
The world says, oh, but you have to stand up for your rights about the Christians.
Is to display this other character gentleness.
We see it disappearing pretty much in the world today. People are becoming more and more violent in standing up for what they want about the Christian is to manifest the Spirit of Christ. And so I say again that through this epistle, the apostle, after bringing before them the character of the assembly in the world, after bringing before them the possibility that this was.
This could be done by occupation with Christ. Then he unfolds.
That's the love of Christ, the grace of Christ, the meekness.
And the gentleman. And then it comes to this last chapter, this 12TH chapter where we read rather, and the ninth verse. And now here's something that isn't included in the fruit of the Spirit as spoken of in Galatians 5. It's power. It's power. Oh, how often we mourn that there isn't power.
Difficulties come up and we say there's no power to deal with this, there's no power to deal with that.
But here, I believe, is the result. If you and I, individually and collectively, are walking in the enjoyment of Christ and in a manner displaying that character before our brethren and before the world, there'll be power to meet the situation. There'll be power. And so.
Paul said here that the Lord said to him, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. The little assembly of Philippi, God says about them, they had a little strength, but they kept His word and didn't deny His name. And what it is that gives spiritual power is to be walking in communion with the Lord and in a practical way manifesting the fruit of.
Earth, or how many the difficulties and problems would be cleared up if each one of us had this desire then as an assembly going on together. We were seeking to walk in the good and enjoyment of it, conscious that there is a testimony being born publicly to this world, just as I say again, as the law and the nation of Israel became a public testimony of God's requirements.
And the church is to be a public testimony in this world.
Of the wonderful love of God displayed upon poor sinners like you and I, and picking us up and bringing us into such a place, and manifesting in US the life of Jesus, making us epistles of Christ. And so they would see a power, an ability to meet the difficulties of life. The world is unable to meet the new situations that are constantly arising.
Use delinquency crime.
Breaking up of homes and men who are in positions of power say, what can you do? What can you do? Everything that's become so slack, we don't know how to handle these new situations that arise in our nation, that arise in the world.
But here there's a display of power where in those who are the epistle of Christ in the world, who show now that there is a way in this world, a pathway through it.
Where Christ is manifested, see it in the pathway of the Lord Jesus, all that blessed one in his whole pathway, manifesting the character of God his Father, and always superior to every situation. May God grant that there may be in that practical sense in your life of mine, more of the manifestation of that. I say again, brethren, we are the epistle of Christ. But maybe it's blurred. But the cure is to turn.
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Upon Jesus look full in his wonderful faith, and I believe if we do, there will be more of the manifestation of these beautiful characteristics and there will be power to meet the situation of this confused age and of this difficult age, whether it's in our home life or a business life or assembly life. He says My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
The First Day of the Week
Association with Christ in His Rejection
Dissolution of the earthen vessel
Characteristics of a true servant
Christian Experience
Christ The Pattern for Our Life
Christ the Believer's Object
Walking By Experience What We Have Learned as Doctrine
Peter a Little Stone With a New Name
Manifold Temptations and Manifold Grace and Mercy
Our Manner of Life
Christ Suffered Leaving Us an Example
Walking in the Light